“Theories of pain, like all scientific theories, evolve as a result of the accumulation of new facts as well as leaps of the imagination.” ~ Thomas Kuhn

We owe much of our current understanding and treatment of pain to many scientists, clinicians, and philosophers in the past centuries. From René Descartes' origin of the Specificity Theory of Pain to Dr. Ronald Melzack and Dr. Patrick Wall's Gate-control Theory of Pain (GCT), pain science and treatment has been redefined and reframed many times in the past 350 years. Melzack and Wall's GCT shed much light in our understanding of pain, which opened doors to new research since the late 1960s. Having withstood over 50 years of tests and rigors of science, the GCT helped Melzack and his colleagues develop the Neuromatrix Theory of Pain, which is based on their work with patients experiencing phantom-limb pain.

But the changes of pain science wasn't always a linear process. There were a lot of debate, experiments, and speculations that ping-ponged different theories and ideas. A new and “less wrong” may arise, but it won't be accepted the majority — not while in the dinosaur theory's shadow. While many manual therapists who are familiar with pain science have heard about Descartes' introduction to the Specificity theory and GCT, not many may be familiar with the process and the people who bridged both theories.